1 00:00:02,235 --> 00:00:05,205 Well, again, welcome, Presidents Day weekend. 2 00:00:05,205 --> 00:00:06,740 Right? Yeah. 3 00:00:06,740 --> 00:00:09,442 Which president is it? 4 00:00:09,442 --> 00:00:10,610 All of them. 5 00:00:10,610 --> 00:00:12,812 This is for all. Is for everybody. 6 00:00:12,812 --> 00:00:13,446 Is that what it is? 7 00:00:13,446 --> 00:00:13,747 Yeah. 8 00:00:13,747 --> 00:00:16,750 Well, happy birthday, president. 9 00:00:18,451 --> 00:00:20,020 Hey, Matthew. 10 00:00:20,020 --> 00:00:21,354 Matthew nine today. 11 00:00:21,354 --> 00:00:23,990 Let me just say this, though, before we get into Matthew nine. 12 00:00:23,990 --> 00:00:27,060 Thank you for the opportunity to be gone last week. 13 00:00:27,060 --> 00:00:32,098 And, and I got to spend, quite a few days in Idaho with our kids and, 14 00:00:32,298 --> 00:00:37,570 and our grandkids and having a great time just being together with them. 15 00:00:38,004 --> 00:00:40,607 Doing a lot of family stuff. 16 00:00:40,607 --> 00:00:43,276 It was, it was it was a great time to be away. 17 00:00:43,276 --> 00:00:44,377 Thank you for the opportunity. 18 00:00:44,377 --> 00:00:47,347 David did a great job. 19 00:00:47,347 --> 00:00:49,282 Closing out chapter eight last week. 20 00:00:49,282 --> 00:00:51,484 I appreciate him. 21 00:00:51,484 --> 00:00:53,186 But it is super good to be back. 22 00:00:53,186 --> 00:00:54,421 It's it's. 23 00:00:54,421 --> 00:00:56,956 Of course, I never get enough time with our kids, 24 00:00:56,956 --> 00:01:00,593 you know, and and the grandkids, but I sure do miss not being here. 25 00:01:00,627 --> 00:01:02,429 So it's it's good to be back with you. 26 00:01:03,363 --> 00:01:05,265 In Matthew nine, we're going to 27 00:01:05,265 --> 00:01:08,268 look at the first portion of that chapter 28 00:01:08,835 --> 00:01:11,604 and then wrap up Matthew nine next week as we continue 29 00:01:11,604 --> 00:01:13,339 to make our way through the book. 30 00:01:13,339 --> 00:01:18,411 But I want to help us understand, Matthew, what's in this book, 31 00:01:18,411 --> 00:01:21,748 why this book is written the way it is and the uniqueness of it. 32 00:01:22,615 --> 00:01:24,918 Four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, 33 00:01:24,918 --> 00:01:28,154 and John, two of the four Gospels 34 00:01:28,154 --> 00:01:31,591 were written by the disciples of Jesus, Matthew and John. 35 00:01:32,192 --> 00:01:37,163 Mark and Luke were not disciples of Jesus, so they're not eyewitness accounts 36 00:01:37,597 --> 00:01:40,600 of the life of Jesus and his public ministry. 37 00:01:41,835 --> 00:01:45,071 Or was they were kind of investigative reporters 38 00:01:45,338 --> 00:01:48,408 that were telling others eyewitness accounts about it. 39 00:01:48,408 --> 00:01:51,411 But Matthew and John are eyewitness accounts 40 00:01:51,444 --> 00:01:55,315 of the, of the life, the public ministry of Jesus. 41 00:01:55,315 --> 00:02:00,954 And so what we have in the book of Matthew is this is Matthew's experience of Jesus 42 00:02:01,621 --> 00:02:04,290 walking with him, being with him, 43 00:02:04,290 --> 00:02:07,327 observing what he did, how he did it. 44 00:02:08,328 --> 00:02:11,331 And, and sitting at the feet of Jesus. 45 00:02:11,331 --> 00:02:15,301 Matthew was a Jew, as was John. 46 00:02:15,635 --> 00:02:19,606 And so Matthew, as he presents the history of Jesus 47 00:02:19,606 --> 00:02:23,443 and his experience with Jesus, he presents it from a Jewish mindset. 48 00:02:24,477 --> 00:02:27,480 And he's writing basically to Jews 49 00:02:28,314 --> 00:02:31,451 about the revelation of the Jewish Messiah. 50 00:02:32,752 --> 00:02:36,823 The prophecy for generations had been that a Jewish Messiah was coming 51 00:02:37,457 --> 00:02:41,361 that would liberate the Jewish nation, would liberate the Jewish people. 52 00:02:41,494 --> 00:02:45,398 They thought it would be a political liberation. 53 00:02:45,865 --> 00:02:50,170 And in this context, specifically from the Roman occupiers of their land, 54 00:02:51,504 --> 00:02:55,742 as Matthew would discover, and as we know, as we read Scripture, 55 00:02:56,042 --> 00:02:58,845 the liberation that the Messiah brought was not 56 00:02:58,845 --> 00:03:01,915 a political liberation, but a spiritual liberation, 57 00:03:02,549 --> 00:03:06,052 and the inauguration of the beginning of the Kingdom of God 58 00:03:06,819 --> 00:03:09,489 that will culminate at the Messiah's return 59 00:03:09,489 --> 00:03:11,758 and the establishment of that kingdom on the earth. 60 00:03:11,758 --> 00:03:15,161 And so it's it's a very Jewish written book 61 00:03:15,161 --> 00:03:18,164 from a Jewish mindset written to Jewish thinkers. 62 00:03:18,598 --> 00:03:21,801 And so what Matthew presents the way he writes 63 00:03:22,035 --> 00:03:25,505 and the things that he communicates are from that perspective. 64 00:03:25,505 --> 00:03:28,741 And you and I don't grasp the depth 65 00:03:28,741 --> 00:03:31,711 of that and the fullness of it, because that's not our background. 66 00:03:32,645 --> 00:03:37,784 And so to understand how beautiful this account is 67 00:03:37,784 --> 00:03:42,889 and how powerful and profound it is, we've got to do some interpretation, 68 00:03:42,989 --> 00:03:47,994 not just of the Scripture, but of the Jewishness of it. 69 00:03:47,994 --> 00:03:51,097 And so I'm going to draw some of that out as we go through this, especially 70 00:03:51,097 --> 00:03:51,798 this morning. 71 00:03:53,233 --> 00:03:56,302 So far this year, just looking at the first section, 72 00:03:56,302 --> 00:04:00,907 this chunk of Matthew chapters, let's say one through ten, 73 00:04:00,907 --> 00:04:05,945 there's three sections in this in chapters one through ten, chapters one and four. 74 00:04:05,945 --> 00:04:10,116 The first section is the revelation of the person of Jesus. 75 00:04:10,416 --> 00:04:14,587 So Matthew is just revealing to us the person of Jesus, 76 00:04:14,587 --> 00:04:18,258 who he who he was as a person born into this world. 77 00:04:19,292 --> 00:04:21,261 Matthew five through seven 78 00:04:21,261 --> 00:04:24,030 are the principles of Jesus that were recorded. 79 00:04:24,030 --> 00:04:27,133 We call that the sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says, here's 80 00:04:27,133 --> 00:04:31,237 the principles of my discipleship, the principles of my kingdom. 81 00:04:31,771 --> 00:04:35,842 So one through four chapters, one through four, the person of Jesus revealed. 82 00:04:35,975 --> 00:04:39,646 Chapters five, six, seven, the principles of Jesus being recorded. 83 00:04:39,979 --> 00:04:42,982 And then in this section, chapters eight through ten, 84 00:04:43,149 --> 00:04:46,085 the power of Jesus being released. 85 00:04:46,085 --> 00:04:49,355 So what Jesus has just got done doing in the sermon on the Mount 86 00:04:49,389 --> 00:04:54,260 saying, here's, here's my kingdom, this is my this is my authority. 87 00:04:54,294 --> 00:04:57,997 This is a whole new way of understanding the kingdom of God. 88 00:04:58,731 --> 00:05:00,166 And he taught it with great authority. 89 00:05:00,166 --> 00:05:03,603 And so now the natural question is, okay, you can talk a good game. 90 00:05:03,603 --> 00:05:04,404 Jesus. 91 00:05:04,404 --> 00:05:05,738 But do you have any power? 92 00:05:05,738 --> 00:05:07,674 And authority to back it up? 93 00:05:07,674 --> 00:05:08,608 And so chapters 94 00:05:08,608 --> 00:05:12,412 eight, nine, ten Jesus says, yeah, I do have power to serve to back it up. 95 00:05:12,412 --> 00:05:16,049 And as a proof of that, I'm going to release my power into your world 96 00:05:16,049 --> 00:05:20,253 so you can see that I have power in the world to back up the authority 97 00:05:20,253 --> 00:05:21,287 that I've been talking about. 98 00:05:22,822 --> 00:05:23,990 So that's wherever you go. 99 00:05:23,990 --> 00:05:27,660 And in chapters eight, nine, ten, we're going to see the power of Jesus 100 00:05:28,094 --> 00:05:31,097 released and unleashed. 101 00:05:31,998 --> 00:05:36,002 And we saw that in chapter eight, in these miracles, 102 00:05:36,602 --> 00:05:41,407 in chapters eight, nine, ten, there's ten miracles that Jesus will do that 103 00:05:41,407 --> 00:05:44,444 will prove he has the power and authority 104 00:05:45,078 --> 00:05:48,181 to back up his claims spiritually. 105 00:05:48,981 --> 00:05:52,819 And we see these first three miracles in chapter eight. 106 00:05:52,952 --> 00:05:55,922 These are miracles just by the grace of God. 107 00:05:56,823 --> 00:05:59,492 These first three people that that are healed 108 00:05:59,492 --> 00:06:03,730 by Jesus as he releases his power and authority 109 00:06:03,963 --> 00:06:08,634 in this world to back up his claims were done simply by God's grace. 110 00:06:08,634 --> 00:06:11,904 None of these three people deserved anything from God. 111 00:06:12,572 --> 00:06:16,209 The first who was healed was a leper and a leper. 112 00:06:16,209 --> 00:06:21,581 Was that person who was this, this debilitating and fatal disease, incurable, 113 00:06:22,081 --> 00:06:25,385 who was cut off, ostracized, cast out, 114 00:06:25,385 --> 00:06:28,855 denied by the community, by the society. 115 00:06:28,855 --> 00:06:34,293 He had no standing, no place completely shut off from all human contact. 116 00:06:34,794 --> 00:06:38,164 He brought nothing to the table that would make God say, you know what? 117 00:06:38,164 --> 00:06:40,666 You deserve to be healed. 118 00:06:40,666 --> 00:06:42,568 It was just by the grace of God. 119 00:06:42,568 --> 00:06:45,571 The second person who was healed and in chapter eight 120 00:06:45,872 --> 00:06:50,343 was on behalf of a Roman soldier whose servant was sick 121 00:06:50,743 --> 00:06:56,048 and Jesus, in responding to the faith as a Roman soldier, a non-Jew, 122 00:06:56,382 --> 00:06:59,051 the opposition force 123 00:06:59,051 --> 00:07:02,522 who was brutalizing the Romans were the Jewish God's people 124 00:07:03,122 --> 00:07:06,225 asked Jesus to heal his servant, 125 00:07:06,692 --> 00:07:09,328 the Roman soldier brought nothing to the table 126 00:07:09,328 --> 00:07:12,565 that would say, that would make God say, you know what, Roman soldier? 127 00:07:12,565 --> 00:07:17,236 You're worthy for me to step in and intervene and, and, and and do nothing. 128 00:07:17,403 --> 00:07:21,307 It was simply by the grace of God that soldier did not deserve God's good hand. 129 00:07:22,275 --> 00:07:23,042 And then the third 130 00:07:23,042 --> 00:07:26,012 person in Romans eight was Peter's mother in law, 131 00:07:26,879 --> 00:07:28,247 who didn't ask Jesus for anything. 132 00:07:28,247 --> 00:07:31,184 She was she was out cold. 133 00:07:31,184 --> 00:07:35,021 And Jesus, just by his grace, it was a woman and woman. 134 00:07:35,021 --> 00:07:38,391 Women in this culture had no standing whatsoever. 135 00:07:38,424 --> 00:07:41,427 She had no right to ask anything. 136 00:07:41,427 --> 00:07:42,662 And she didn't ask anything. 137 00:07:42,662 --> 00:07:43,996 It was just by the grace of God. 138 00:07:43,996 --> 00:07:46,999 And so what we see these first three of ten miracles 139 00:07:47,066 --> 00:07:51,337 is the grace of God extending through the person of Jesus 140 00:07:51,337 --> 00:07:55,041 to assert his complete authority that backs up his claims. 141 00:07:56,342 --> 00:07:59,011 And then these next two miracles that we see 142 00:07:59,011 --> 00:08:01,981 in, as David taught last week, 143 00:08:02,215 --> 00:08:05,218 Jesus's authority, 144 00:08:05,384 --> 00:08:08,120 over chaos and his authority to deliver 145 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,724 when it calms the storm and frees the demon possessed men. 146 00:08:12,725 --> 00:08:15,728 And he's he's saying, look, I know I made some big claims, 147 00:08:15,761 --> 00:08:18,764 and now I'm going to prove to you I have authority to make those claims. 148 00:08:19,632 --> 00:08:21,834 And then in chapter nine, we're going to continue to see 149 00:08:21,834 --> 00:08:24,971 the revelation of his power and the release of his power in the world, 150 00:08:25,471 --> 00:08:28,474 and the inauguration of a new kingdom. 151 00:08:28,608 --> 00:08:31,177 Here's what I want us to get the big idea for this. 152 00:08:31,177 --> 00:08:32,011 This morning. 153 00:08:32,011 --> 00:08:34,914 Jesus doesn't patch torn up lives. 154 00:08:34,914 --> 00:08:37,083 He recreates them. 155 00:08:37,083 --> 00:08:39,151 Jesus did not come 156 00:08:39,151 --> 00:08:42,154 to patch the holes in our life. 157 00:08:42,989 --> 00:08:45,691 He came to recreate our life. 158 00:08:45,691 --> 00:08:48,394 We have to understand this because I think this is 159 00:08:48,394 --> 00:08:51,397 this is what we miss so often. 160 00:08:52,231 --> 00:08:57,203 We know that our lives get broken right? 161 00:08:57,937 --> 00:09:01,007 We know the holes that we have, the terrors 162 00:09:01,007 --> 00:09:04,610 that we have, the pains that we have, the problems that we have. 163 00:09:04,777 --> 00:09:08,915 And so many of us come to God and say, God, fix that right? 164 00:09:09,916 --> 00:09:11,784 Like step in and do something 165 00:09:11,784 --> 00:09:14,787 like, patch this. 166 00:09:16,255 --> 00:09:18,090 Jesus has too much power 167 00:09:18,090 --> 00:09:21,961 and a thorn to patch it up to get us further down the road. 168 00:09:21,961 --> 00:09:24,263 He wants to recreate it. 169 00:09:24,263 --> 00:09:26,766 He doesn't want to patch the hole in the tire 170 00:09:26,766 --> 00:09:30,002 so we can make it a few more miles down the road of our life. 171 00:09:30,670 --> 00:09:33,839 He wants to completely remake it and reform it 172 00:09:33,839 --> 00:09:37,043 and reshape it, make it completely new. 173 00:09:37,209 --> 00:09:40,947 And I think are so many of our problem is, God, would you just help 174 00:09:40,947 --> 00:09:42,248 me get further down the road? 175 00:09:42,248 --> 00:09:45,685 He says, no, I don't want to do that. 176 00:09:46,352 --> 00:09:50,823 I've come to make all things new, including you. 177 00:09:51,157 --> 00:09:55,761 And if all you want from me is to patch your hole 178 00:09:55,895 --> 00:09:58,831 so you can get off, you can make it another day. 179 00:09:58,831 --> 00:10:00,766 You don't understand who I am. 180 00:10:00,766 --> 00:10:02,401 You don't understand what I do. 181 00:10:02,401 --> 00:10:04,704 And you're asking far too little of me. 182 00:10:06,138 --> 00:10:08,040 And I'm not going to devalue 183 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:11,444 who I am to fit in your little box. 184 00:10:13,913 --> 00:10:16,515 It's a new kingdom, 185 00:10:16,515 --> 00:10:18,484 and I'm too big 186 00:10:18,484 --> 00:10:20,920 to fit in your left over broken spaces. 187 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:23,923 I want to recreate them to understand. 188 00:10:26,292 --> 00:10:30,062 So let me read Matthew nine verses one through eight, 189 00:10:30,062 --> 00:10:33,399 and there's a, corollary passage in Mark 12. 190 00:10:33,399 --> 00:10:34,967 I'm going to read that one too, in just a minute. 191 00:10:34,967 --> 00:10:39,238 But Mark nine verses one through eight, this is what the Bible says. 192 00:10:40,106 --> 00:10:43,242 And getting into a boat, he crossed over and came to his own city, 193 00:10:43,242 --> 00:10:45,478 which is Capernaum. We'll learn that later. 194 00:10:45,478 --> 00:10:49,015 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. 195 00:10:49,015 --> 00:10:52,852 And when Jesus saw their face, he said to the paralytic, 196 00:10:52,852 --> 00:10:55,855 take heart, my son, your sins are forgiven. 197 00:10:55,988 --> 00:10:58,791 And behold, some of the scribes 198 00:10:58,791 --> 00:11:01,794 said to themselves, this man is blaspheming. 199 00:11:01,861 --> 00:11:04,363 And Jesus knowing their thoughts. 200 00:11:04,363 --> 00:11:06,098 That's a frightful sentence. 201 00:11:10,102 --> 00:11:13,606 He said, why do you think evil in your hearts? 202 00:11:13,606 --> 00:11:17,643 For which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise and walk, 203 00:11:18,411 --> 00:11:21,414 but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority 204 00:11:21,414 --> 00:11:23,949 there it is on earth to forgive sins. 205 00:11:23,949 --> 00:11:27,620 He then said to the paralytic, rise, take up your bed and go home. 206 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:30,256 And he rose and went home. 207 00:11:30,256 --> 00:11:33,259 Then the crowd saw it. 208 00:11:33,325 --> 00:11:35,161 When the crowd saw it, they were afraid, 209 00:11:35,161 --> 00:11:38,330 and they glorified God who had given such authority to men. 210 00:11:38,731 --> 00:11:42,268 And that's how Matthew tells this eyewitness account. 211 00:11:43,135 --> 00:11:46,138 Now in in Mark chapter two, 212 00:11:46,272 --> 00:11:49,008 we see this same account from a different perspective. 213 00:11:49,008 --> 00:11:52,945 Now, Mark was not a disciple, so this is not Mark's eyewitness account. 214 00:11:53,846 --> 00:11:57,349 Many people believe that Mark was the scribe for Peter, 215 00:11:57,883 --> 00:11:59,452 and Peter was a disciple. 216 00:11:59,452 --> 00:12:04,557 So this is probably Peter's retelling of Mark as Mark writes it down for Peter. 217 00:12:05,257 --> 00:12:05,991 Okay, so 218 00:12:07,893 --> 00:12:09,862 first, chapter two, verse one. 219 00:12:09,862 --> 00:12:12,331 And when he returned to Capernaum, that's his home towns. 220 00:12:12,331 --> 00:12:15,701 After some days, it was reported that he was at home, 221 00:12:16,736 --> 00:12:19,238 whose home is probably Peter's home, because he had just 222 00:12:19,238 --> 00:12:22,241 healed Peter's mother in law, 223 00:12:22,274 --> 00:12:23,976 and many were gathered together 224 00:12:23,976 --> 00:12:27,246 so that there was no more room, not even at the door. 225 00:12:27,913 --> 00:12:29,882 And he was preaching the word to them. 226 00:12:29,882 --> 00:12:33,018 You know, I read that and I thought, that is awesome. 227 00:12:33,686 --> 00:12:35,454 Like he's not doing anything. 228 00:12:35,454 --> 00:12:37,056 He just preaching. 229 00:12:37,056 --> 00:12:39,925 And there are so many people that come from the entire town 230 00:12:39,925 --> 00:12:42,928 that they can't even get inside anymore. 231 00:12:43,262 --> 00:12:45,197 That sorry. 232 00:12:45,197 --> 00:12:47,166 You're stuck with me. 233 00:12:47,166 --> 00:12:49,835 And so far, there no line outside the door. 234 00:12:49,835 --> 00:12:52,171 So we'll just we'll go with what we got. 235 00:12:52,171 --> 00:12:54,473 And it is what it is. 236 00:12:54,473 --> 00:12:57,143 But. Jesus, he could lay it down, preaching, 237 00:12:59,111 --> 00:12:59,612 And they 238 00:12:59,612 --> 00:13:02,882 came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 239 00:13:03,549 --> 00:13:05,151 And when they could not get near him 240 00:13:05,151 --> 00:13:08,454 because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him. 241 00:13:08,954 --> 00:13:12,391 And when they had made an opening, they let down the bed 242 00:13:12,391 --> 00:13:14,126 on which the paralytic lay. 243 00:13:14,126 --> 00:13:17,296 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said of the paralytic, son, 244 00:13:17,530 --> 00:13:19,064 your sins are forgiven. 245 00:13:19,064 --> 00:13:22,134 Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, 246 00:13:22,201 --> 00:13:24,970 why does this man speak like that? He's blaspheming. 247 00:13:24,970 --> 00:13:27,473 Who can forgive sins but God alone? 248 00:13:27,473 --> 00:13:31,110 And immediately Jesus perceived in his spirit that they requested, 249 00:13:32,711 --> 00:13:35,080 that they thus questioned within themselves, 250 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,184 said to them, why do you question these things in your hearts? 251 00:13:38,184 --> 00:13:42,188 Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise, 252 00:13:42,188 --> 00:13:43,222 take up your bed and walk, 253 00:13:43,222 --> 00:13:46,725 but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. 254 00:13:46,926 --> 00:13:51,330 He said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home. 255 00:13:51,730 --> 00:13:55,835 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, 256 00:13:56,402 --> 00:13:59,872 so that they were all amazed and glorify God, saying, 257 00:13:59,872 --> 00:14:01,307 we've never saw anything like this. 258 00:14:01,307 --> 00:14:03,542 So same account, different perspectives. 259 00:14:03,542 --> 00:14:05,044 It's important to understand 260 00:14:05,044 --> 00:14:08,581 both what Matthew says about this and what Mark says about this. 261 00:14:10,749 --> 00:14:11,417 What we 262 00:14:11,417 --> 00:14:14,420 learn is that there's a paralyzed man, 263 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,389 and we learn from both accounts that they're friends. 264 00:14:17,389 --> 00:14:19,592 There's four of them 265 00:14:19,592 --> 00:14:23,495 are so concerned about their friends need 266 00:14:24,196 --> 00:14:26,999 that they do everything in their power 267 00:14:26,999 --> 00:14:30,002 to introduce their friend to Jesus. 268 00:14:30,669 --> 00:14:34,340 And the Bible says that Jesus saw faith. 269 00:14:34,340 --> 00:14:37,343 Whose faith did Jesus see that prompted his healing 270 00:14:37,443 --> 00:14:40,179 in their friends faith? 271 00:14:40,179 --> 00:14:43,182 Apparently the paralytic had no faith whatsoever, 272 00:14:44,083 --> 00:14:47,086 but their friends had faith. 273 00:14:47,586 --> 00:14:50,589 There are times in yours in my life 274 00:14:50,689 --> 00:14:53,692 when we need to borrow someone else's faith, 275 00:14:55,094 --> 00:14:58,097 when we just don't have it anymore, 276 00:14:58,697 --> 00:15:00,032 stuff goes down. 277 00:15:00,032 --> 00:15:01,867 Life happens. 278 00:15:01,867 --> 00:15:06,472 Our faith falters, and we think God help. 279 00:15:11,911 --> 00:15:15,114 And we need people around our lives 280 00:15:15,848 --> 00:15:19,285 who can believe for us when we can't believe anymore. 281 00:15:19,318 --> 00:15:20,119 You understand 282 00:15:21,153 --> 00:15:22,421 who have enough faith. 283 00:15:22,421 --> 00:15:25,424 I say, listen, I know that you can't see this right now. 284 00:15:25,624 --> 00:15:27,593 You can't understand this right now. 285 00:15:27,593 --> 00:15:28,727 You have no faith. 286 00:15:28,727 --> 00:15:31,730 Let me lend you my faith for a time. 287 00:15:33,599 --> 00:15:36,568 And this is why it's so important. 288 00:15:36,568 --> 00:15:40,372 Why we are a part of a group of people 289 00:15:40,839 --> 00:15:43,375 who are people of faith 290 00:15:43,375 --> 00:15:47,079 that we walk with and do life with each other, who are people. 291 00:15:47,179 --> 00:15:50,182 Because there will come times, you know, this 292 00:15:50,983 --> 00:15:54,253 either in your own life or on behalf of your kids or what, 293 00:15:54,386 --> 00:15:57,389 where you're like, I can't in them, I don't know. 294 00:15:57,523 --> 00:15:59,858 And we need people who say, listen, though 295 00:15:59,858 --> 00:16:03,462 you don't believe in this moment, let me believe for you 296 00:16:04,730 --> 00:16:06,598 to understand. Yeah. 297 00:16:06,598 --> 00:16:09,702 And sometimes that's all God requires in order 298 00:16:09,702 --> 00:16:12,738 to work in the faith of the one who has lost their faith. 299 00:16:17,343 --> 00:16:17,977 And their 300 00:16:17,977 --> 00:16:21,413 faith became the touch point for a healing from Jesus. 301 00:16:21,413 --> 00:16:23,549 It wasn't his faith, 302 00:16:23,549 --> 00:16:27,019 but it provided a touch point for him to be healed. 303 00:16:28,020 --> 00:16:30,789 And the first words out of Jesus's mouth, well, let me say this. 304 00:16:30,789 --> 00:16:32,891 Let me say this. Let me see this. 305 00:16:32,891 --> 00:16:35,361 What these people are doing 306 00:16:35,361 --> 00:16:37,896 is they're evangelizing their friend. 307 00:16:37,896 --> 00:16:40,899 Now, all evangelism means is good news. 308 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:44,903 When you evangelize, all of you do all that is, it's a churchy word. 309 00:16:44,903 --> 00:16:46,038 Don't let it scare you. 310 00:16:46,038 --> 00:16:48,707 All it means is you tell someone the good news of Jesus. 311 00:16:48,707 --> 00:16:50,109 That's what that means. 312 00:16:50,109 --> 00:16:53,612 And so these people are like, look, you have a need 313 00:16:53,812 --> 00:16:56,815 that cannot be met by anything or anyone. 314 00:16:57,182 --> 00:17:01,053 I got good news for you, and I want to introduce you to Jesus. 315 00:17:01,620 --> 00:17:03,889 That's what they're saying. 316 00:17:03,889 --> 00:17:05,724 That's what they're saying. 317 00:17:05,724 --> 00:17:07,526 Oftentimes, I want you to notice this. 318 00:17:07,526 --> 00:17:11,563 Oftentimes evangelism begins with being inconvenienced. 319 00:17:12,831 --> 00:17:15,834 These for stopped everything in their life. 320 00:17:16,068 --> 00:17:20,372 They were so burdened by their friend and their friends need that. 321 00:17:20,372 --> 00:17:23,776 They thought how do we get this guy to Jesus? 322 00:17:23,942 --> 00:17:26,945 How do we introduce him to Jesus? 323 00:17:27,012 --> 00:17:30,049 They were so burdened and so overwhelmed 324 00:17:30,582 --> 00:17:34,353 because their friend had a need that they could they couldn't meet. 325 00:17:34,386 --> 00:17:37,389 Nobody could mean it, but they knew Jesus could. 326 00:17:40,125 --> 00:17:43,128 Anybody? 327 00:17:46,765 --> 00:17:49,768 And they were so overwhelmed, 328 00:17:49,868 --> 00:17:52,871 out of love for their friend 329 00:17:53,372 --> 00:17:56,341 who was far from God and suffering 330 00:17:57,109 --> 00:18:00,279 that they would stop at nothing to introduce him 331 00:18:00,279 --> 00:18:03,282 to Christ. 332 00:18:03,782 --> 00:18:06,785 Do you love anybody like that? 333 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,923 What have you stopped at? 334 00:18:12,057 --> 00:18:13,358 So they press in the door. 335 00:18:13,358 --> 00:18:16,361 They can't get in. 336 00:18:16,795 --> 00:18:18,664 They'll make a way. 337 00:18:18,664 --> 00:18:20,332 Here's what we have to understand. 338 00:18:20,332 --> 00:18:22,668 The best of friends don't just support you. 339 00:18:22,668 --> 00:18:23,902 They bring you to Jesus. 340 00:18:26,905 --> 00:18:28,907 If you are a Christ follower 341 00:18:28,907 --> 00:18:32,044 and you have people in your life who need Jesus, 342 00:18:33,512 --> 00:18:37,483 the best friend you can be is not someone who just supports them 343 00:18:38,150 --> 00:18:41,153 in their pain and encourages them. 344 00:18:41,620 --> 00:18:45,224 The best thing you can do is stop at nothing 345 00:18:45,224 --> 00:18:48,227 to introduce them and bringing them to Christ. 346 00:18:50,462 --> 00:18:53,198 To understand, know. 347 00:18:53,198 --> 00:18:56,201 This is why I'm teaching that class tonight. 348 00:18:56,468 --> 00:18:58,704 I will give you the tools you have to have 349 00:18:58,704 --> 00:19:01,707 the desire. 350 00:19:04,776 --> 00:19:06,812 The first thing Jesus says this guy is what? 351 00:19:06,812 --> 00:19:09,815 He's laying there paralyzed. 352 00:19:13,152 --> 00:19:14,186 Do you have a Bible? 353 00:19:14,186 --> 00:19:16,321 Look at it. 354 00:19:16,321 --> 00:19:17,756 No, he doesn't say your sins are forgiven. 355 00:19:17,756 --> 00:19:20,759 That's not what he says. First, right? 356 00:19:20,826 --> 00:19:21,560 Yeah. 357 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:23,195 He doesn't say, rise. Take up your bed and walk. 358 00:19:23,195 --> 00:19:25,731 What you say, the first thing he says, take heart. 359 00:19:25,731 --> 00:19:27,733 Be of good cheer. Now watch this. 360 00:19:27,733 --> 00:19:29,568 These guys are so burdened that their friend. 361 00:19:29,568 --> 00:19:30,769 No, Jesus, they can't get in. 362 00:19:30,769 --> 00:19:32,971 So they go to the roof and start tearing off the roof. 363 00:19:34,473 --> 00:19:36,308 This is Peter's house. 364 00:19:36,308 --> 00:19:38,911 Can you imagine what Peter's thinking is like? 365 00:19:38,911 --> 00:19:42,781 Look, Jesus, I followed you and you're just disrupting everything. 366 00:19:43,382 --> 00:19:46,051 Like, first 367 00:19:46,051 --> 00:19:48,120 mother in law. 368 00:19:48,120 --> 00:19:51,490 I mean, we talked about that two weeks ago. 369 00:19:51,924 --> 00:19:54,927 Like I never asked that you. 370 00:19:56,628 --> 00:19:59,198 Well, go with it, though. 371 00:19:59,198 --> 00:20:02,201 And now my house. 372 00:20:02,668 --> 00:20:03,869 Do you understand that sometimes 373 00:20:03,869 --> 00:20:06,872 when you attach to Jesus, he makes stuff chaotic? 374 00:20:07,940 --> 00:20:09,908 And so Peter's looking at this. 375 00:20:09,908 --> 00:20:12,044 The roofs came, you know, whole. 376 00:20:12,044 --> 00:20:15,047 And all of a sudden this paralyzed man is laying there 377 00:20:15,447 --> 00:20:20,052 and the first words out of Jesus mouth is, what can't be of good. 378 00:20:20,052 --> 00:20:22,921 Yeah, literally be of good cheer. Okay. Wait, wait. 379 00:20:22,921 --> 00:20:24,823 Be of good cheer. 380 00:20:24,823 --> 00:20:27,693 I'm paralyzed. 381 00:20:27,693 --> 00:20:30,662 Why does Jesus say be of good cheer? 382 00:20:31,597 --> 00:20:33,198 There are times 383 00:20:33,198 --> 00:20:36,201 when you and I don't need a new situation. 384 00:20:36,535 --> 00:20:38,904 What we need is a good word from God. 385 00:20:40,505 --> 00:20:41,373 There are times 386 00:20:41,373 --> 00:20:44,376 when what we need is to hear God say, listen, 387 00:20:44,376 --> 00:20:48,213 I know you, I see you, and I've got good news for you. 388 00:20:48,247 --> 00:20:51,250 That's the first thing we need to hear from him. 389 00:20:53,619 --> 00:20:56,355 There are times when we don't need a new plan. 390 00:20:56,355 --> 00:20:59,358 We don't need good advice. 391 00:20:59,391 --> 00:21:00,158 We need hope. 392 00:21:00,158 --> 00:21:03,161 Spoken to us. 393 00:21:03,362 --> 00:21:04,496 And that's what Jesus does. 394 00:21:04,496 --> 00:21:06,965 First, I have hope for you. 395 00:21:06,965 --> 00:21:09,968 I have hope for you. 396 00:21:11,403 --> 00:21:12,237 Sometimes 397 00:21:12,237 --> 00:21:16,241 when we enter into the difficulty of another person 398 00:21:16,241 --> 00:21:19,578 and speak hope into their life, we're not blowing smoke up. 399 00:21:19,578 --> 00:21:22,648 There's what we're doing is that hope is fuel 400 00:21:22,648 --> 00:21:25,651 for their faith. 401 00:21:25,651 --> 00:21:28,520 You reminded me that God is good 402 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:30,789 and that he can 403 00:21:30,789 --> 00:21:32,491 be of good cheer. 404 00:21:32,491 --> 00:21:33,392 That's evangelism. 405 00:21:33,392 --> 00:21:36,361 It's good news. 406 00:21:37,763 --> 00:21:40,666 And he says to this man, be of good cheer. 407 00:21:42,067 --> 00:21:44,970 He's looking at the paralyzed guy, 408 00:21:44,970 --> 00:21:47,973 sees the faith of his friends, 409 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:49,908 be of good cheer. 410 00:21:49,908 --> 00:21:51,943 Here's the good news. Your sins are forgiven. 411 00:21:51,943 --> 00:21:54,946 What do you think the four guys are thinking? 412 00:21:58,250 --> 00:22:00,018 Well, what? 413 00:22:00,018 --> 00:22:01,520 The paralyzed. 414 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:04,056 We tore the roof off so we can get to you. 415 00:22:04,056 --> 00:22:07,059 And you're going to tell him his sins are forgiven? 416 00:22:07,826 --> 00:22:09,027 I mean, what do you say? 417 00:22:09,027 --> 00:22:10,662 We don't know. But what's the x? 418 00:22:10,662 --> 00:22:13,098 What do we think they were expecting? 419 00:22:13,098 --> 00:22:17,769 When you beat them, you get up a walk and Jesus says your sins are forgiven. 420 00:22:18,003 --> 00:22:21,473 What do you think the paralyzed guy's thinking comes over? 421 00:22:21,940 --> 00:22:24,009 Okay, cool. 422 00:22:24,009 --> 00:22:26,578 Let me suggest something. 423 00:22:26,578 --> 00:22:31,883 I think Jesus knows his greatest not only need, 424 00:22:32,050 --> 00:22:35,053 but his greatest desire. 425 00:22:36,254 --> 00:22:36,788 Healing 426 00:22:36,788 --> 00:22:39,925 would come, but healing was evidence. 427 00:22:39,925 --> 00:22:42,461 Forgiveness was the mission. 428 00:22:42,461 --> 00:22:45,564 And Jesus addressed his deepest 429 00:22:45,564 --> 00:22:49,368 need first, not the most visible need. 430 00:22:50,769 --> 00:22:52,437 Paralysis was temporary. 431 00:22:52,437 --> 00:22:55,440 Unforgiven. Sin was eternal. 432 00:22:55,540 --> 00:22:56,775 Jesus understood. 433 00:22:56,775 --> 00:22:59,778 And I'm going to suggest to you that this man understood that 434 00:23:01,179 --> 00:23:03,482 Jesus will deal with the eternal problem 435 00:23:03,482 --> 00:23:06,451 first, before he addresses the physical one. 436 00:23:07,052 --> 00:23:10,021 See, the worst thing in life 437 00:23:11,423 --> 00:23:12,791 is not what hurts us, 438 00:23:12,791 --> 00:23:15,794 but what separates us from God. 439 00:23:16,395 --> 00:23:18,096 And this is why I think 440 00:23:18,096 --> 00:23:21,967 Jesus addressed his spiritual need first, because I think 441 00:23:21,967 --> 00:23:24,970 this man wanted that addressed 442 00:23:25,237 --> 00:23:27,272 though he couldn't speak it. 443 00:23:27,272 --> 00:23:28,874 What do we know about Jesus? 444 00:23:28,874 --> 00:23:31,643 In his response to the scribes who said, this guy's blaspheming? 445 00:23:31,643 --> 00:23:34,613 What do we know about Jesus? 446 00:23:34,613 --> 00:23:37,282 He knew there what? 447 00:23:37,282 --> 00:23:39,351 So put it together. 448 00:23:39,351 --> 00:23:41,820 He knows the scribes thoughts 449 00:23:41,820 --> 00:23:45,223 and he addresses their thoughts. 450 00:23:46,091 --> 00:23:47,259 Right? 451 00:23:47,259 --> 00:23:50,162 That's what he deals with. 452 00:23:50,162 --> 00:23:51,930 I suggest to you 453 00:23:51,930 --> 00:23:56,535 that in looking at this paralyzed man, he knows that this paralyzed guy 454 00:23:56,535 --> 00:24:01,206 ultimately knows life is fleeting and is difficult. 455 00:24:01,807 --> 00:24:05,143 I need to be right with God before all else. 456 00:24:05,577 --> 00:24:10,682 And so Jesus deals first with that deepest desire that this man had. 457 00:24:11,583 --> 00:24:13,919 God, would you just make me right with you? 458 00:24:13,919 --> 00:24:17,022 If you could do that, I will give up my legs. 459 00:24:18,390 --> 00:24:21,092 That was the greatest desire that this man had. 460 00:24:21,092 --> 00:24:22,527 That's my suggestion to you. 461 00:24:22,527 --> 00:24:23,762 That's why Jesus dealt with it. 462 00:24:23,762 --> 00:24:26,765 First, because he knows our thoughts. 463 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:30,869 To understand. 464 00:24:30,869 --> 00:24:33,638 And so the question that I have in reading is understanding 465 00:24:33,638 --> 00:24:36,641 that is this. 466 00:24:40,245 --> 00:24:42,781 If all I do is want 467 00:24:42,781 --> 00:24:46,585 God to show up and meet my most immediate, visible need 468 00:24:47,486 --> 00:24:50,055 and I'm willing to sacrifice 469 00:24:50,055 --> 00:24:53,058 being right with him for him to do it. 470 00:24:53,124 --> 00:24:55,994 Why would he? 471 00:24:55,994 --> 00:24:58,864 Why should he? 472 00:24:58,864 --> 00:25:01,500 Can we say, 473 00:25:01,500 --> 00:25:03,134 can we say, can we be okay? 474 00:25:03,134 --> 00:25:06,872 Say, Lord, even if you never hear me, 475 00:25:07,739 --> 00:25:10,742 I just want to be right with you. 476 00:25:17,616 --> 00:25:19,651 Is your faith 477 00:25:19,651 --> 00:25:22,387 worth your legs? 478 00:25:22,387 --> 00:25:25,390 That's what he was saying to the paralytic in the paralytic said absolutely, 479 00:25:26,291 --> 00:25:29,294 absolutely. 480 00:25:29,794 --> 00:25:31,296 And of course, out of that 481 00:25:32,364 --> 00:25:33,365 just says, okay, look. 482 00:25:33,365 --> 00:25:35,433 And you don't think I can forgive sin? 483 00:25:35,433 --> 00:25:38,403 What's easier to say your sins are forgiven? 484 00:25:38,403 --> 00:25:40,472 Or to say, get up and walk. 485 00:25:40,472 --> 00:25:43,441 So to prove to you I have authority over what I said, 486 00:25:44,276 --> 00:25:46,044 I'm going to release my power in this guy's life. 487 00:25:46,044 --> 00:25:47,712 Get up your 488 00:25:47,712 --> 00:25:50,682 take up your bed and walk. 489 00:25:50,682 --> 00:25:52,651 Let me just say this 490 00:25:52,651 --> 00:25:55,921 a word about healing and repentance, and I just 491 00:25:56,121 --> 00:25:57,188 I just want to throw this out there. 492 00:25:57,188 --> 00:25:58,823 I don't have all the answers this, 493 00:25:58,823 --> 00:26:01,826 but I just want to help you understand what the Bible says. 494 00:26:02,460 --> 00:26:05,797 There's a danger in us walking away from this thinking, well, 495 00:26:05,797 --> 00:26:08,967 if someone isn't healed because they're sinful, that's not 496 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,369 that's not what the Bible says. That's not what I'm saying. 497 00:26:11,369 --> 00:26:16,274 Please don't think that if someone is ill, that's because they're sin. 498 00:26:16,441 --> 00:26:17,208 Unrepentant sin. 499 00:26:17,208 --> 00:26:20,178 Don't don't think that and don't ever put that on somebody. 500 00:26:20,178 --> 00:26:22,447 If you just had more faith, you're more holy. You'd be healed. 501 00:26:22,447 --> 00:26:24,249 Don't ever, please don't ever do that. 502 00:26:24,249 --> 00:26:27,152 That's just a lie from the devil. So I want I want to be clear about that. 503 00:26:27,152 --> 00:26:29,387 But I also want us to understand Scripture. 504 00:26:29,387 --> 00:26:31,089 And the book of James says, therefore 505 00:26:31,089 --> 00:26:34,693 confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. 506 00:26:34,693 --> 00:26:37,696 The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 507 00:26:37,862 --> 00:26:40,398 Here's what he's saying. You're saying that there's a correlation 508 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,135 between unrepentant and 509 00:26:44,135 --> 00:26:47,138 unforgiven sin and our bodies. 510 00:26:48,073 --> 00:26:51,543 Again, it doesn't mean that if someone's sick or ill that they're sin. 511 00:26:52,177 --> 00:26:55,180 But think about it like this. 512 00:26:55,513 --> 00:26:57,515 If if, if if if you're 513 00:26:57,515 --> 00:27:00,518 living in the sin of alcoholism 514 00:27:01,553 --> 00:27:04,556 and you say, God, please heal my liver, 515 00:27:04,556 --> 00:27:07,559 God is going to say no. 516 00:27:07,559 --> 00:27:09,828 Why don't you confess that sin and repent of it? 517 00:27:09,828 --> 00:27:11,863 First, 518 00:27:11,863 --> 00:27:15,066 you're a chain smoker and you say, God, please heal my lungs. 519 00:27:15,734 --> 00:27:18,737 He's going to say, why don't you repent of your sin? 520 00:27:19,170 --> 00:27:21,106 The that that's more along this line. 521 00:27:21,106 --> 00:27:22,340 You understand that? 522 00:27:22,340 --> 00:27:24,943 And so and so we have to be. 523 00:27:24,943 --> 00:27:27,712 But there's another verse in, in, 524 00:27:27,712 --> 00:27:31,149 in the book of third John, John the Apostle, he's an old man. 525 00:27:31,483 --> 00:27:33,284 Look at what he said. This is this is amazing. 526 00:27:33,284 --> 00:27:35,553 I don't have the answer. That's not what the Bible says. 527 00:27:35,553 --> 00:27:40,125 Beloved, listen, I, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health. 528 00:27:40,125 --> 00:27:43,128 That's not a bad prayer, but look at what he attached to it. 529 00:27:43,194 --> 00:27:44,896 Just as your soul prospers. 530 00:27:46,831 --> 00:27:48,900 In other words, listen. 531 00:27:48,900 --> 00:27:51,436 I pray that your body is as healthy 532 00:27:51,436 --> 00:27:54,439 as your soul. Wow. 533 00:27:56,675 --> 00:27:57,742 And so many times 534 00:27:57,742 --> 00:28:01,546 when we have these needs, God, I need you to step in and intervene. 535 00:28:02,247 --> 00:28:06,384 Do this for me physically, he says I can, 536 00:28:07,419 --> 00:28:10,422 but you make sure. 537 00:28:12,090 --> 00:28:14,259 That the spiritual thing 538 00:28:14,259 --> 00:28:16,828 is taken care of first. 539 00:28:16,828 --> 00:28:19,831 Many people ask me to pray for them in this church, and I do. 540 00:28:20,331 --> 00:28:22,434 But my prayer for you 541 00:28:22,434 --> 00:28:26,271 is, father, as they are devoted to you 542 00:28:26,604 --> 00:28:30,842 and right and serving your kingdom, move and intervene in their life 543 00:28:30,842 --> 00:28:33,945 so they can continue serving you and loving you. 544 00:28:35,380 --> 00:28:38,383 Don't just heal them so they can go off in their sin 545 00:28:39,451 --> 00:28:42,120 to understand, 546 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:45,123 Yeah. Yes. 547 00:28:47,258 --> 00:28:47,892 In in Mark 548 00:28:47,892 --> 00:28:51,162 chapter two, verse 11 about this account, Jesus says, look, you're healed. 549 00:28:51,196 --> 00:28:52,697 He says, now go home. 550 00:28:52,697 --> 00:28:53,431 He sends them home. 551 00:28:53,431 --> 00:28:56,434 He doesn't say, you go out in the public square and tell them all about me. 552 00:28:56,434 --> 00:28:57,102 He doesn't say. 553 00:28:57,102 --> 00:29:00,004 He says, just go home. And here's what I think that's important. 554 00:29:01,473 --> 00:29:04,142 Here's why I think that's important, 555 00:29:04,142 --> 00:29:06,111 because healing that 556 00:29:06,111 --> 00:29:09,114 Jesus has to be seen at home first. 557 00:29:10,749 --> 00:29:13,251 It has to be seen at home first. 558 00:29:13,251 --> 00:29:17,222 The change in you as a man, as a husband, 559 00:29:17,222 --> 00:29:20,892 as a father, has to show up at home behind closed doors. 560 00:29:20,892 --> 00:29:23,361 First. 561 00:29:23,361 --> 00:29:25,096 The change in you as a wife, 562 00:29:25,096 --> 00:29:28,533 as a mother, has to show up behind closed doors at home. 563 00:29:28,533 --> 00:29:31,302 First. 564 00:29:31,302 --> 00:29:34,572 If we act apart in public but don't live apart 565 00:29:34,572 --> 00:29:38,343 at home, it's a false conversion and a false faith. 566 00:29:40,712 --> 00:29:43,715 You understand this 567 00:29:43,748 --> 00:29:43,982 well. 568 00:29:43,982 --> 00:29:46,351 We're nice to everybody else. 569 00:29:46,351 --> 00:29:49,354 And a terrible person at home. 570 00:29:50,789 --> 00:29:53,024 It's a false faith. 571 00:29:53,024 --> 00:29:55,994 Go home. 572 00:29:55,994 --> 00:29:58,997 Live a saved, redeemed life at home. 573 00:30:04,202 --> 00:30:05,804 And then we come to the other. 574 00:30:05,804 --> 00:30:08,573 In verse nine. 575 00:30:08,573 --> 00:30:10,909 And Jesus passed on from there. 576 00:30:10,909 --> 00:30:12,844 And he saw a man called Matthew sitting 577 00:30:12,844 --> 00:30:15,847 at the tax collectors booth and said to him, follow me. 578 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:18,082 And he rose and followed him. 579 00:30:19,284 --> 00:30:21,853 This tax collector, 580 00:30:21,853 --> 00:30:26,124 we know from another passage that this guy Matthew, his name was Levi. 581 00:30:26,157 --> 00:30:30,428 That's important because he was probably from the tribe of Levi. 582 00:30:30,728 --> 00:30:34,399 And that is important because the tribe of Levi was the priestly tribe. 583 00:30:34,532 --> 00:30:38,670 So here's this young man who was probably part of the priestly tribe, 584 00:30:38,770 --> 00:30:41,873 who should have gone into the ministry but rather 585 00:30:41,873 --> 00:30:44,876 chose the world of materialism. 586 00:30:45,476 --> 00:30:47,912 He became a tax collector 587 00:30:47,912 --> 00:30:51,216 in this day, as Rome ruled the world, 588 00:30:51,616 --> 00:30:54,619 they taxed the Jews very heavily. 589 00:30:55,420 --> 00:30:59,224 They had what was called a poll tax, which was they taxed the right to breathe 590 00:30:59,257 --> 00:31:02,260 because they believe that all air was Roman air. 591 00:31:03,027 --> 00:31:06,798 And so for the Jews, once a boy turned 14, 592 00:31:06,798 --> 00:31:10,268 until the age he was 60, he was taxed for the right to breathe. 593 00:31:10,602 --> 00:31:15,707 Girls, they started at 12 years old to 60, taxed him for the right to breathe. 594 00:31:16,007 --> 00:31:17,475 They had a will tax. 595 00:31:17,475 --> 00:31:20,645 If you had a card with one will, you were tax a certain amount, 596 00:31:20,712 --> 00:31:24,215 but every will you added to that cart was more taxed. 597 00:31:24,215 --> 00:31:29,087 They taxed every wheel, even the for the fisherman every fish was taxed. 598 00:31:29,254 --> 00:31:32,891 They didn't tax the right to fish and they didn't tax what you gained 599 00:31:32,891 --> 00:31:36,628 on the fish though they did tax income tax 10% right off the top. 600 00:31:36,895 --> 00:31:40,698 But they added to that tax for every single fish that the fishermen, 601 00:31:41,032 --> 00:31:43,334 they were overtaxed. Yeah. Anybody. 602 00:31:45,870 --> 00:31:48,039 And so then this he's not in the Bible. 603 00:31:48,039 --> 00:31:51,309 But historically there's this guy named Newsome who came along that copied 604 00:31:51,843 --> 00:31:54,846 their tax code. 605 00:31:56,648 --> 00:31:58,650 Yeah, yeah. 606 00:31:58,650 --> 00:32:02,487 And and so and so the way Rome collected their taxes 607 00:32:02,754 --> 00:32:06,424 is they use Jews to collect taxes from Jews. 608 00:32:06,691 --> 00:32:11,262 And a Jewish man could buy the right to be a tax collector. 609 00:32:11,696 --> 00:32:15,300 He would have to pay them, pay Rome for the right to collect taxes, 610 00:32:15,566 --> 00:32:19,270 and then Rome would tell him, here's how much all the taxes are. 611 00:32:19,304 --> 00:32:21,239 They wouldn't tell the popular show. 612 00:32:21,239 --> 00:32:23,942 The people had no idea what the tax rate was. 613 00:32:23,942 --> 00:32:28,212 The tax code was the the Rome told the tax collector, and then Rome told 614 00:32:28,212 --> 00:32:32,417 the tax collector, this is what our do is you can tax them how much you want. 615 00:32:32,550 --> 00:32:36,154 And once you pay us, you get to keep everything else and so the tax collectors 616 00:32:36,421 --> 00:32:40,725 were extortionists, backed by the Roman authority and by Roman soldiers. 617 00:32:40,892 --> 00:32:42,927 So the Jews were at their mercy. 618 00:32:44,162 --> 00:32:46,331 And so a Jewish tax collector 619 00:32:46,331 --> 00:32:49,500 was hated and despised by the Jews. 620 00:32:50,335 --> 00:32:54,739 He he lost all of his Jewishness by being a tax collector. 621 00:32:55,707 --> 00:32:59,377 And so this guy Levi, who probably should have been in the ministry, 622 00:33:00,111 --> 00:33:02,814 sought materialism instead 623 00:33:02,814 --> 00:33:05,516 and cut himself off from everything 624 00:33:05,516 --> 00:33:08,519 that was Jewish and became a tax collector 625 00:33:09,020 --> 00:33:12,957 and he was despised by the Jews. 626 00:33:12,957 --> 00:33:14,459 But he was also because he was you. 627 00:33:14,459 --> 00:33:16,160 He was disposable by Rome. 628 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:19,163 So understand what this means. 629 00:33:19,397 --> 00:33:21,299 For Matthew to follow Jesus, 630 00:33:21,299 --> 00:33:24,302 it cost him greatly. 631 00:33:25,870 --> 00:33:27,739 We know from the book of. 632 00:33:27,739 --> 00:33:30,742 We know from the book of, Luke 633 00:33:31,843 --> 00:33:33,578 after this same account. 634 00:33:33,578 --> 00:33:34,245 After this, 635 00:33:34,245 --> 00:33:37,682 he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. 636 00:33:37,882 --> 00:33:39,217 And he said to him, follow me. 637 00:33:39,217 --> 00:33:41,652 And leaving everything, he rose and follow him. 638 00:33:41,652 --> 00:33:44,789 We don't understand what this means when he says, you left everything. 639 00:33:44,822 --> 00:33:46,924 And notice Matthew doesn't say he left everything. 640 00:33:46,924 --> 00:33:48,092 Matthew just says, I followed. 641 00:33:49,027 --> 00:33:51,696 Luke tells us that he left everything. 642 00:33:51,696 --> 00:33:54,298 Here's why that's important. 643 00:33:54,298 --> 00:33:57,301 He had already left his Jewish community. 644 00:33:57,568 --> 00:34:01,072 He couldn't go back to the Jews because he was a tax collector. 645 00:34:01,906 --> 00:34:03,775 He lost his Jewish community. 646 00:34:03,775 --> 00:34:06,544 He lost his use. Ideally, he lost his Jewish connections. 647 00:34:06,544 --> 00:34:08,079 He lost his Jewish family. 648 00:34:08,079 --> 00:34:11,082 He lost his Jewish everything because he was a tax collector. 649 00:34:11,215 --> 00:34:12,884 So now for him to leave, 650 00:34:12,884 --> 00:34:16,487 being a tax collector now, he was cutting himself off from Rome. 651 00:34:17,321 --> 00:34:18,956 He can never go back. 652 00:34:18,956 --> 00:34:23,194 If this Jesus thing didn't work out and started being a tax collector again, 653 00:34:23,394 --> 00:34:26,397 he was. He became an island to himself. 654 00:34:26,431 --> 00:34:30,535 He had no Jewish connection and now he had no Roman allegiance. 655 00:34:32,103 --> 00:34:35,807 He left everything the fishermen 656 00:34:37,041 --> 00:34:38,943 Peter and Andrew, James and John. 657 00:34:38,943 --> 00:34:40,978 If the Jesus thing didn't work out, 658 00:34:40,978 --> 00:34:44,415 they go back to fishing, which they did after the crucifixion. 659 00:34:45,750 --> 00:34:48,286 Matthew could not go back to anything. 660 00:34:48,286 --> 00:34:51,956 If Jesus didn't work out for him, he was done 661 00:34:53,558 --> 00:34:56,461 for him to follow Jesus. 662 00:34:56,461 --> 00:34:58,729 He left his paycheck. 663 00:34:58,729 --> 00:35:00,798 He left his position. 664 00:35:00,798 --> 00:35:03,000 He left his protection. 665 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:04,769 He left his stability. 666 00:35:04,769 --> 00:35:06,437 He left his future. 667 00:35:06,437 --> 00:35:08,339 He left his identity. 668 00:35:08,339 --> 00:35:11,342 He left everything. 669 00:35:13,144 --> 00:35:16,147 So much courage. 670 00:35:16,714 --> 00:35:19,717 So much courage. 671 00:35:20,451 --> 00:35:21,152 Listen. 672 00:35:21,152 --> 00:35:24,822 Discipleship begins where excuses end. 673 00:35:29,894 --> 00:35:30,595 I wonder 674 00:35:30,595 --> 00:35:34,198 how many of us, how many times we said, Lord, I would love to. 675 00:35:34,198 --> 00:35:36,634 I just. 676 00:35:36,634 --> 00:35:38,402 I just can't right now. 677 00:35:38,402 --> 00:35:39,237 Can't afford it. 678 00:35:39,237 --> 00:35:39,770 Too busy. 679 00:35:39,770 --> 00:35:40,371 Got this going on. 680 00:35:40,371 --> 00:35:43,374 Got that going on. Too much in debt. 681 00:35:43,574 --> 00:35:45,276 I mean that would I would have to leave, 682 00:35:45,276 --> 00:35:48,279 you know. 683 00:35:48,779 --> 00:35:49,914 And Matthew is one of my heroes. 684 00:35:49,914 --> 00:35:52,917 Such a courageous young man. 685 00:35:53,551 --> 00:35:54,252 He had nothing. 686 00:35:54,252 --> 00:35:55,286 If this didn't work out. 687 00:35:58,623 --> 00:36:00,758 No negotiation, no delay, no conditions. 688 00:36:00,758 --> 00:36:03,661 Total allegiance. 689 00:36:03,661 --> 00:36:05,196 Here's what I know. 690 00:36:05,196 --> 00:36:08,199 Comfortable faith isn't the same as Christianity. 691 00:36:14,172 --> 00:36:16,707 This is not the same. 692 00:36:16,707 --> 00:36:17,742 And so what? Jesus. 693 00:36:17,742 --> 00:36:19,810 Jesus is radical man and he's called. 694 00:36:19,810 --> 00:36:22,813 He said, look, this is what my kingdom is. 695 00:36:24,048 --> 00:36:24,715 I'm not calling you 696 00:36:24,715 --> 00:36:27,718 to be a moral good person. 697 00:36:27,752 --> 00:36:29,987 I I'm calling you to a total allegiance 698 00:36:29,987 --> 00:36:32,990 to a completely new kingdom. 699 00:36:37,261 --> 00:36:38,162 We've got a few more verses. 700 00:36:38,162 --> 00:36:39,230 You all right? 701 00:36:39,230 --> 00:36:41,132 Here we have verse ten. 702 00:36:41,132 --> 00:36:43,501 And Jesus reclined at table in the house. 703 00:36:43,501 --> 00:36:45,603 So this is at Matthew's house. 704 00:36:45,603 --> 00:36:48,573 Okay. 705 00:36:48,606 --> 00:36:49,707 We call it a table in the house. 706 00:36:49,707 --> 00:36:53,678 Behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining 707 00:36:53,678 --> 00:36:55,213 with Jesus and his disciples. 708 00:36:55,213 --> 00:36:57,515 I mean, the only friends Matthew had was a bunch of, 709 00:36:57,515 --> 00:36:59,016 you know, sinners like him, right? 710 00:36:59,016 --> 00:37:02,820 Tax collectors and prostitutes, you know, government people. 711 00:37:03,054 --> 00:37:05,656 I mean, this is just kind of their kind of their world. 712 00:37:09,460 --> 00:37:09,827 And when the 713 00:37:09,827 --> 00:37:12,897 Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 714 00:37:12,897 --> 00:37:15,900 why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? 715 00:37:16,667 --> 00:37:19,170 But when he heard it, he said, those who are 716 00:37:19,170 --> 00:37:22,173 well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 717 00:37:22,273 --> 00:37:23,541 Go and learn what this means. 718 00:37:23,541 --> 00:37:27,745 I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I came to call, not to call the righteous, 719 00:37:27,745 --> 00:37:28,646 but sinners. 720 00:37:28,646 --> 00:37:31,549 We don't understand because this is such 721 00:37:31,549 --> 00:37:34,552 a Jewish thing about eating with people. 722 00:37:34,585 --> 00:37:37,355 This is why the reason is just revolted against it. 723 00:37:37,355 --> 00:37:39,490 Let me tell you what's what happens, 724 00:37:39,490 --> 00:37:42,760 when in the Jewish mindset, when they would eat with someone. 725 00:37:42,860 --> 00:37:44,128 David, stand up here. 726 00:37:44,128 --> 00:37:47,131 Like, if Dave and I are having a meal together. 727 00:37:47,398 --> 00:37:48,466 Take a piece of the bread. 728 00:37:48,466 --> 00:37:50,701 Just a piece you got to eat. I mean, that's it. 729 00:37:50,701 --> 00:37:52,036 Like chunk. My gosh. 730 00:37:53,337 --> 00:37:54,105 And just eat it. 731 00:37:54,105 --> 00:37:55,139 Just eat it. Yeah. 732 00:37:55,139 --> 00:37:57,775 I mean, we're we're eating together. 733 00:37:57,775 --> 00:38:00,778 The loaf of bread, the bread together, you know 734 00:38:01,145 --> 00:38:04,148 what happening in the Jewish mind 735 00:38:05,283 --> 00:38:09,120 is this little bread is my sustenance. 736 00:38:09,987 --> 00:38:12,089 It's my life. 737 00:38:12,089 --> 00:38:15,092 Because as I eat it and my body ingests it, 738 00:38:15,626 --> 00:38:19,330 the nutrients of it go into every cell of my body. 739 00:38:19,664 --> 00:38:20,865 And same thing with Dave. 740 00:38:20,865 --> 00:38:22,099 You're still eating it? 741 00:38:22,099 --> 00:38:25,369 No, we need some wine or something to go with it. 742 00:38:25,369 --> 00:38:26,270 Right? 743 00:38:26,270 --> 00:38:27,772 Oh, no. It's church water. 744 00:38:27,772 --> 00:38:30,141 We need water. 745 00:38:30,141 --> 00:38:31,475 And so Dave's doing the same thing. 746 00:38:31,475 --> 00:38:34,812 And as he eats that the nutrients from the loaf 747 00:38:35,246 --> 00:38:39,550 are permeate a permeate permeating every cell in his body. 748 00:38:40,351 --> 00:38:44,555 And so Dave and I are sharing from the same life. 749 00:38:45,389 --> 00:38:48,059 And this life is now part of both of us. 750 00:38:49,093 --> 00:38:50,127 Do you understand? 751 00:38:50,127 --> 00:38:53,798 So to eat with someone means that now our lives are connected 752 00:38:54,865 --> 00:38:57,635 now, not we're we're part of each other 753 00:38:57,635 --> 00:39:01,238 now, and there's a relationship and there's an intimacy, 754 00:39:01,939 --> 00:39:05,576 and there's my life is part of you, and your life is now part of me. 755 00:39:06,410 --> 00:39:09,914 It was a special, sacred thing to eat with somebody. 756 00:39:11,248 --> 00:39:11,582 Well done. 757 00:39:11,582 --> 00:39:14,218 Here's your bread. 758 00:39:14,218 --> 00:39:16,654 And and and and so what 759 00:39:16,654 --> 00:39:21,125 they're saying is, Jesus, if you're this holy man, how can you share? 760 00:39:21,192 --> 00:39:24,295 Let there life is a part of you. 761 00:39:26,130 --> 00:39:29,266 They're horrible people and your life is a part of them. 762 00:39:29,266 --> 00:39:32,470 You you've instituted this relationship between each other. 763 00:39:33,337 --> 00:39:34,705 That doesn't compute. 764 00:39:34,705 --> 00:39:35,172 What do you think? 765 00:39:35,172 --> 00:39:38,175 Jesus says, I am the bread of life. 766 00:39:39,110 --> 00:39:40,544 You partake of me 767 00:39:40,544 --> 00:39:44,148 and now we are partaking of the same loaf together. 768 00:39:44,148 --> 00:39:46,951 There's a sacredness and an intimacy between Christ followers. 769 00:39:49,053 --> 00:39:50,187 In the Jewish mind, they 770 00:39:50,187 --> 00:39:53,190 could never have a business meal and let it get 771 00:39:54,091 --> 00:39:57,094 like, like rough and abusive with each other 772 00:39:57,728 --> 00:40:00,398 because there's an intimacy to eating with each other. 773 00:40:00,398 --> 00:40:02,933 And that's why it just didn't compute with them. 774 00:40:02,933 --> 00:40:06,537 And Jesus says of him, listen, I didn't come to call righteous people. 775 00:40:06,537 --> 00:40:08,038 I came to. 776 00:40:08,038 --> 00:40:10,307 I came to call people who are sick. 777 00:40:10,307 --> 00:40:11,742 I love what Matthew is doing. 778 00:40:11,742 --> 00:40:13,344 He's throwing a party. 779 00:40:13,344 --> 00:40:16,347 And this is one of the styles of evangelism. 780 00:40:16,814 --> 00:40:19,817 It's to be able to throw Matthew parties. 781 00:40:20,117 --> 00:40:20,951 I this what it is. 782 00:40:20,951 --> 00:40:22,887 It's way that he invites all these sinners who don't know. 783 00:40:22,887 --> 00:40:27,758 Jesus throws a party and has Jesus there so we can introduce him to Jesus. 784 00:40:28,592 --> 00:40:29,894 It's one of the stars of Evangel. 785 00:40:29,894 --> 00:40:31,729 This is why I want you to come tonight. 786 00:40:31,729 --> 00:40:34,131 Some of you throw great parties. 787 00:40:34,131 --> 00:40:35,833 That's your natural style of evangelism. 788 00:40:35,833 --> 00:40:37,535 You just don't do it. 789 00:40:37,535 --> 00:40:40,304 You throw parties, but you get liquored up and don't ever talk about Jesus. 790 00:40:40,304 --> 00:40:42,072 And so, like, you're missing the point. 791 00:40:45,509 --> 00:40:47,278 You're saying 792 00:40:47,278 --> 00:40:50,281 I'm gonna teach you how to do this so it becomes evangelistic? 793 00:40:51,348 --> 00:40:53,384 I mean, oftentimes you reach friends 794 00:40:53,384 --> 00:40:56,387 better or faster with a meal than with a debate, 795 00:40:57,221 --> 00:41:00,224 right? Yes. 796 00:41:00,391 --> 00:41:03,160 And so I said, look, I didn't come to call righteous people, you think. 797 00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:06,997 And religious people I came to call sick people who who are the sick people? 798 00:41:08,732 --> 00:41:11,735 You know, you and me. 799 00:41:13,170 --> 00:41:14,672 You and me. 800 00:41:14,672 --> 00:41:17,775 Jesus just said in Matthew five, blessed are the poor in spirit, 801 00:41:18,142 --> 00:41:19,443 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 802 00:41:19,443 --> 00:41:21,278 Blessed are those who mourn. 803 00:41:21,278 --> 00:41:25,683 You shall listen when you realize the poverty of your spirit, 804 00:41:26,517 --> 00:41:29,520 when you realize how sick you are, 805 00:41:30,187 --> 00:41:32,623 then you can be blessed by me. 806 00:41:32,623 --> 00:41:34,291 Every one of us. 807 00:41:34,291 --> 00:41:37,261 We're the sick when we realize our poverty. 808 00:41:37,261 --> 00:41:41,031 Matter of fact, Paul will say in Romans three, none is righteous. 809 00:41:41,866 --> 00:41:42,833 Who's the unrighteous ones? 810 00:41:42,833 --> 00:41:45,102 We are because none is righteous. No, not one. 811 00:41:45,102 --> 00:41:46,003 Not one understands. 812 00:41:46,003 --> 00:41:49,006 No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. 813 00:41:49,373 --> 00:41:50,975 Together they become worthless. 814 00:41:50,975 --> 00:41:52,743 No one does good. Not even one 815 00:41:53,744 --> 00:41:54,712 who are the sick that need 816 00:41:54,712 --> 00:41:57,715 Jesus, not the sinners. Me? 817 00:41:58,449 --> 00:42:01,452 I'm the sinner. You. 818 00:42:02,186 --> 00:42:05,189 One last thing. 819 00:42:07,057 --> 00:42:10,060 Two more versus let me do 16 or 17. You. 820 00:42:12,596 --> 00:42:12,930 I don't know. 821 00:42:12,930 --> 00:42:14,732 Starting in 14. 822 00:42:14,732 --> 00:42:18,702 Then disciples of John came to him saying, why do we in the Pharisees fast 823 00:42:18,702 --> 00:42:19,803 are your disciples? Don't fast. 824 00:42:19,803 --> 00:42:22,206 And Jesus said to them, can the wedding guest mourn 825 00:42:22,206 --> 00:42:23,641 as long as the bridegroom is with them? 826 00:42:23,641 --> 00:42:24,675 The days will come 827 00:42:24,675 --> 00:42:28,579 when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 828 00:42:29,380 --> 00:42:32,583 So he says, listen, I did. 829 00:42:32,583 --> 00:42:36,053 You know the Jews were only required to fast one day a year on Yom Kippur. 830 00:42:36,654 --> 00:42:40,257 But the Pharisees, they had them and their disciples fast two days a week, 831 00:42:40,891 --> 00:42:43,561 just kind of prove how spiritual they were. 832 00:42:43,561 --> 00:42:46,564 That's why Jesus addressed the fasting thing in the sermon on the Mount. 833 00:42:46,564 --> 00:42:48,232 He said, when you fast, don't like 834 00:42:48,232 --> 00:42:50,935 make yourself look miserable because all you're doing is trying to make 835 00:42:50,935 --> 00:42:53,137 everybody think you're super religious and you're not. 836 00:42:53,137 --> 00:42:54,672 Your hearts are so far from me. 837 00:42:54,672 --> 00:42:56,907 All your religious activities, I mean, that darn thing. 838 00:42:58,542 --> 00:43:00,945 And so Jesus says, look at all your people fast 839 00:43:00,945 --> 00:43:02,980 because you're doing it all wrong for the wrong reasons. 840 00:43:02,980 --> 00:43:05,749 Listen, my disciples, right now, they're enjoying my presence. 841 00:43:05,749 --> 00:43:08,752 There's no reason to fast. I'm with them. 842 00:43:08,786 --> 00:43:10,821 They don't have to fast. We're just having a good time. 843 00:43:10,821 --> 00:43:13,824 Like they're experiencing me in the fullness of me. 844 00:43:13,857 --> 00:43:14,959 So there's come at a time 845 00:43:14,959 --> 00:43:17,962 when the bridegroom is going to leave, and then they'll fast. 846 00:43:18,329 --> 00:43:21,332 Not out of mourning, though, out of anticipation. 847 00:43:21,632 --> 00:43:25,102 They'll be so excited to be with me again that they will go without food 848 00:43:25,102 --> 00:43:28,839 so they can lean into their, their, their spiritual relationship with me 849 00:43:28,839 --> 00:43:30,274 as their connection with me. 850 00:43:30,274 --> 00:43:31,976 So they will fast one day. 851 00:43:31,976 --> 00:43:34,044 But right now we're just enjoying each other's company. 852 00:43:34,044 --> 00:43:36,914 If you want any information on fasting, one of the books 853 00:43:36,914 --> 00:43:40,351 I wrote in the Welcome Center on Spiritual Disciplines talks all about fasting. 854 00:43:40,651 --> 00:43:43,020 I encourage you to pick it up to practice fasting, 855 00:43:43,020 --> 00:43:46,123 not as a way to manipulate God's hand and not out of mourning, 856 00:43:46,123 --> 00:43:49,660 but just out of anticipation that God, I cannot wait to be with you intimately. 857 00:43:50,060 --> 00:43:52,096 And then Jesus says this, and I'll finish with this. 858 00:43:54,164 --> 00:43:54,565 No one 859 00:43:54,565 --> 00:43:58,369 puts a piece of cloth on old and an old garment for the patch. 860 00:43:58,369 --> 00:44:01,872 Tears away from the garments, and a worse tear is made, 861 00:44:01,872 --> 00:44:05,342 and neither is new wine put into old wineskins. 862 00:44:05,509 --> 00:44:08,912 If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed. 863 00:44:08,946 --> 00:44:12,616 But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, so both are preserved. 864 00:44:12,616 --> 00:44:13,517 Here's what he's saying. 865 00:44:13,517 --> 00:44:16,153 Back in the day, when they would make wine, 866 00:44:16,153 --> 00:44:18,055 they would put them in like leather pouches. 867 00:44:18,055 --> 00:44:19,056 This is not one of them. 868 00:44:19,056 --> 00:44:22,059 It's the closest I could find on Amazon. 869 00:44:22,292 --> 00:44:23,861 But similarly they would. 870 00:44:23,861 --> 00:44:28,032 It's new and they would put new wine in there as as wine fermented 871 00:44:28,198 --> 00:44:30,601 because it has some elasticity in it. 872 00:44:30,601 --> 00:44:33,604 And this new it would stretch as the wine expanded. 873 00:44:34,104 --> 00:44:36,607 Okay, new wine to new wineskins. 874 00:44:36,607 --> 00:44:39,243 Jesus says nobody puts new wine in old wineskins, 875 00:44:39,243 --> 00:44:42,613 because if this is already expended, all its elasticity 876 00:44:42,813 --> 00:44:46,650 and you put new wine in that, that wine is going to expand 877 00:44:46,650 --> 00:44:51,355 and the pouch will burst, and the new wine 878 00:44:51,355 --> 00:44:55,392 and the wine, old wineskin will both be ruined, he said. 879 00:44:55,392 --> 00:44:59,029 So new wine is put into new wineskins. 880 00:44:59,430 --> 00:45:00,497 Here's what he's saying. 881 00:45:00,497 --> 00:45:03,500 Wine is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. 882 00:45:03,801 --> 00:45:06,370 And what Jesus is saying here is 883 00:45:06,370 --> 00:45:09,373 the father doesn't pour new Holy Spirit work 884 00:45:09,373 --> 00:45:13,343 into old wineskins, because the old wineskins can't contain it. 885 00:45:15,746 --> 00:45:18,749 They've lost their elasticity 886 00:45:18,916 --> 00:45:21,752 and Jesus doesn't want to do away with the old. 887 00:45:21,752 --> 00:45:25,789 He came to fulfill it, but the new he wants to do 888 00:45:25,989 --> 00:45:29,226 will be in people's lives who stay elastic, 889 00:45:30,461 --> 00:45:33,664 who stay flexible, who stay permeable. 890 00:45:35,332 --> 00:45:37,634 Religion wants to modify. 891 00:45:37,634 --> 00:45:40,537 Jesus wants to transform. 892 00:45:40,537 --> 00:45:43,006 The Spirit of God will create new life. 893 00:45:43,006 --> 00:45:46,009 And the Spirit of God is always about newness. 894 00:45:47,277 --> 00:45:50,280 And the Spirit of God desires to do new things. 895 00:45:51,181 --> 00:45:56,520 But our danger is not in opposition to the new things of God. 896 00:45:56,820 --> 00:45:59,323 It's rigidity towards it. 897 00:45:59,323 --> 00:46:02,693 And there are so many people who've been in church so long 898 00:46:03,727 --> 00:46:06,797 that they become so stuck in their own ways, 899 00:46:06,797 --> 00:46:10,534 and their own experience of church and their own experience of the spirit 900 00:46:10,701 --> 00:46:14,371 and their own experience of Jesus and their own relationship with God. 901 00:46:14,471 --> 00:46:17,508 They become so ingrained in what they've always done 902 00:46:17,508 --> 00:46:19,343 and the way they've always experienced it. 903 00:46:19,343 --> 00:46:21,078 And there's no new expression. 904 00:46:21,078 --> 00:46:22,880 They get stuck in their own style. 905 00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:24,348 They get stuck in their own system. 906 00:46:24,348 --> 00:46:26,950 They get stuck in their own experience. 907 00:46:26,950 --> 00:46:30,521 There's so engraved, ingrained with the way I am 908 00:46:32,389 --> 00:46:35,392 that God can't do anything new. 909 00:46:36,560 --> 00:46:40,564 That they've lost the ability for a new expression. 910 00:46:40,564 --> 00:46:44,401 Not just a new experience of God, but a new expression 911 00:46:45,469 --> 00:46:48,472 of themselves. 912 00:46:48,772 --> 00:46:51,775 And we get so content with the old expression, 913 00:46:52,109 --> 00:46:55,746 I come in, I sit down, I listen to the band, 914 00:46:56,246 --> 00:46:59,383 I listen to the bald guy who sometimes he does a decent job. 915 00:47:00,217 --> 00:47:02,019 I don't say hi to anybody. 916 00:47:02,019 --> 00:47:03,787 I'm not doing anything new. 917 00:47:03,787 --> 00:47:07,524 I walk out, maybe I show up the next week, maybe I don't. 918 00:47:07,524 --> 00:47:10,527 I'll be back at some point. 919 00:47:10,761 --> 00:47:14,298 And there's no elasticity and there's no newness. 920 00:47:14,298 --> 00:47:18,235 And God will not pour new wine of his spirit 921 00:47:18,302 --> 00:47:21,305 in an old rigid container. 922 00:47:21,572 --> 00:47:23,473 It will destroy you. 923 00:47:23,473 --> 00:47:25,776 And God doesn't want he won't say, that's fine. 924 00:47:25,776 --> 00:47:26,476 You want to be rigid? 925 00:47:26,476 --> 00:47:28,645 Stay over there in a corner, do your thing, 926 00:47:28,645 --> 00:47:32,216 but you will never experience a new move of the spirit 927 00:47:33,450 --> 00:47:36,453 ever. 928 00:47:36,854 --> 00:47:39,156 It's too alive and it's too big, 929 00:47:39,156 --> 00:47:43,227 and it's too active for people to say, it was good. 930 00:47:43,861 --> 00:47:45,062 Didn't like the song. 931 00:47:45,062 --> 00:47:47,798 So much is all right. 932 00:47:47,798 --> 00:47:50,801 You know what? 933 00:47:52,769 --> 00:47:53,871 No way I'm going to do this 934 00:47:53,871 --> 00:47:56,874 when I'm singing, I that's that's a little bit crazy. 935 00:47:57,007 --> 00:47:57,875 Never done it. Don't. 936 00:47:57,875 --> 00:48:00,878 That won't ever. 937 00:48:02,012 --> 00:48:04,982 If ever be in a position to pray out loud in public. 938 00:48:05,883 --> 00:48:08,886 And the moment someone asks you, your eyes do this. 939 00:48:13,290 --> 00:48:14,992 I shouldn't sing well, I do, I just aren't comfortable with that. 940 00:48:14,992 --> 00:48:16,593 Yeah, yeah, because you're so rigid. 941 00:48:16,593 --> 00:48:19,129 God can't pour new wine into you. 942 00:48:19,129 --> 00:48:22,132 You're not flexible anymore. 943 00:48:26,403 --> 00:48:27,905 The truth is, a Holy Spirit fills 944 00:48:27,905 --> 00:48:30,908 surrendered hearts, not stubborn ones. 945 00:48:33,377 --> 00:48:35,512 Listen, 946 00:48:35,512 --> 00:48:37,981 Jesus did not come to patch up what's old, 947 00:48:39,783 --> 00:48:42,786 he can't replace it. 948 00:48:44,621 --> 00:48:47,624 We have to stay elastic. 949 00:48:49,826 --> 00:48:51,929 Every person in this passage has responded differently. 950 00:48:51,929 --> 00:48:55,132 Friends carried someone to Jesus, the paralytic, and trusted Jesus. 951 00:48:55,265 --> 00:48:56,700 Matthew. Follow Jesus. 952 00:48:56,700 --> 00:49:00,804 The Pharisees were rigid towards Jesus, and the disciples simply just enjoyed him. 953 00:49:01,571 --> 00:49:05,042 The question is not what is Jesus doing? 954 00:49:05,042 --> 00:49:08,011 The question is, which person will I be? 955 00:49:10,147 --> 00:49:12,883 Listen, we don't need a better version of our life. 956 00:49:12,883 --> 00:49:15,886 We need a whole new one. 957 00:49:16,086 --> 00:49:18,855 To understand. 958 00:49:18,855 --> 00:49:20,624 You don't need to be with the best version of you. 959 00:49:20,624 --> 00:49:22,693 You can be. 960 00:49:22,693 --> 00:49:25,696 You and I need to be a whole new person. 961 00:49:25,963 --> 00:49:28,966 And that's what Jesus came to do. 962 00:49:32,269 --> 00:49:35,005 Father, thank you 963 00:49:35,005 --> 00:49:36,540 that your mercies are new every morning. 964 00:49:36,540 --> 00:49:39,543 Thank you for your grace, 965 00:49:39,643 --> 00:49:41,945 the favor that you pour out 966 00:49:41,945 --> 00:49:45,015 on old, rigid people like me. 967 00:49:46,550 --> 00:49:47,184 Continue. 968 00:49:47,184 --> 00:49:50,187 Pour your mercy and grace on us. 969 00:49:51,488 --> 00:49:54,491 I pray that we choose to stay elastic, 970 00:49:55,325 --> 00:49:58,328 ready for a new work. 971 00:49:59,896 --> 00:50:00,197 Friends, 972 00:50:00,197 --> 00:50:04,134 if you've never given your life to Jesus, I want to encourage you in this moment. 973 00:50:04,134 --> 00:50:05,369 Just say a real simple prayer. 974 00:50:05,369 --> 00:50:08,372 The ABCd of Faith. 975 00:50:08,972 --> 00:50:10,574 This prayer won't save you. 976 00:50:10,574 --> 00:50:12,809 Only Jesus saves you. 977 00:50:12,809 --> 00:50:15,812 But this prayer is you surrendering to him. 978 00:50:17,381 --> 00:50:20,717 Just simply this I admit I've sinned 979 00:50:21,084 --> 00:50:24,087 and lived my own way. 980 00:50:24,821 --> 00:50:26,923 I believe Jesus died 981 00:50:26,923 --> 00:50:29,926 for my sins and rose again. 982 00:50:30,627 --> 00:50:31,228 Forgive me. 983 00:50:31,228 --> 00:50:33,964 I accept your forgiveness. 984 00:50:33,964 --> 00:50:37,034 I commit to turn from my sin 985 00:50:39,002 --> 00:50:42,005 and I dedicate my life to you. 986 00:50:43,073 --> 00:50:46,076 Help me live for you openly, 987 00:50:46,276 --> 00:50:49,312 without shame and without hesitation. 988 00:50:51,982 --> 00:50:54,985 Amen. 989 00:50:55,218 --> 00:50:56,686 Said I love you. 990 00:50:56,686 --> 00:50:58,622 I'm proud of you. 991 00:50:58,622 --> 00:51:01,691 Read Matthew nine the whole chapter this week, over and over and over. 992 00:51:01,691 --> 00:51:04,861 Let him bubble up inside and we'll finish chapter nine next week. 993 00:51:05,862 --> 00:51:08,031 You understand? 994 00:51:08,031 --> 00:51:10,500 One last plug for the evangelism 995 00:51:10,500 --> 00:51:13,503 class tonight. 996 00:51:14,337 --> 00:51:16,506 Stay elastic. 997 00:51:16,506 --> 00:51:20,043 Learn how to do this and the way that fits you 998 00:51:20,744 --> 00:51:23,513 so you can fulfill your purpose on this earth. 999 00:51:23,513 --> 00:51:24,915 If you're a Christian and still breathe 1000 00:51:24,915 --> 00:51:27,918 and this is the only reason you're still alive, 1001 00:51:28,652 --> 00:51:29,986 understand that call. 1002 00:51:29,986 --> 00:51:32,255 Understand that responsibility. Quit neglecting it. 1003 00:51:32,255 --> 00:51:35,258 Delayed obedience is just disobedience. 1004 00:51:36,526 --> 00:51:39,529 Learn how to share your faith. 1005 00:51:40,664 --> 00:51:43,800 So you can carry your friends who are paralyzed in faith. 1006 00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:45,936 To Jesus. 1007 00:51:45,936 --> 00:51:48,105 6:00 tonight 1008 00:51:48,105 --> 00:51:48,572 listening.